On our last day in Lisbon we went by the bay to see some of the monuments of the once great sea faring nation. The Portuguese are very anxious to tell everyone how they “once ruled the world”.
This is the monument to the Discoveries during the great sailing age and features 33 famous Portuguese explorers.
Elora was excited to run as fast as she could once she saw the water. When I realized this was Europe and there was no fence keeping her from falling into the bay I had to start running too. Lukily she stopped an entire 12 inches from the edge.
Little Oliver enjoyed hanging out by the water front playing peek-a-boo with his hat. Notice all the fisherman behind him. Elora was really excited by them and kept asking if they were catching fish.
The bay of Lisbon had several bridges linking the two halves of the city. The bridge in the background was built by the same designer as the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco and looks the same (but smaller). Elora saw the sailboats in the bay and asked, “Is that Max’s boat?” (from Where the Wild Things Are)
We’re not sure what this is that Karen is posing in front of. Some kind of fort thing. There are a bunch of them along the bay. Most likely protection against pirates from the Spanish Maine. (eh?)
Elora was really excited by this huge airplane statue. She didn’t want to leave and probably made an appearence in the background of a bunch of other tourists photos because she refused to go.
Elora loves cannons. And flowers. She decided to share her flowers with the cannon as she talked about friendly pirates.
Oliver has taken up Elora’s love of cannons. What’s not to love? He was very excited to play with and put his head inside it. Luckily it never got stuck. That would have been awkward… 
There is this huge aquaduct that used to carry water into the city. Now it just looks pretty as you drive underneath it on the highway.
The neat thing about the major capitols of Europe is they have these beautiful monuments everywhere as you drive through the city. This one is in the center of a round-about. Maybe we should commission a few monuments for back home?
